Love Conquers Nothing
by BrokenDreamer
Summary: a look at Maria and Michael from Liz's point of view


Disclaimer:  I only own these words.  The characters, the plot, the events, blah blah blah do not belong to me, I am not entitle to the rights, blah blah blah blah.  Etc. etc. and so on and so on.  

I always thought that Maria and Michael would stay together.  Not because they loved each other—I'm not so romantic as to think that love conquers all—but because they were perfect for each other.  People used to look at them and wonder why the hell they were together when all they ever did was fight.  But don't you remember the very beginning, where they both raved and ranted about how the other was a "vibrator"?  They _were_ vibrators.  

You couldn't come into the same room without feeling Maria's energy.  She was always so vibrant, and bouncy, even when she was upset.  When upset, she'd be jumping up and down shrieking, or hyperventilating.  And when Maria knew what she wanted, gosh darn it, she'd get it.  Hurricane DeLuca could definitely be equated with a blond pixie in alien antennae.  

Michael tried to hide his emotions, and he did, in a way.  He was able to hide what specific emotion he had, but you could always feel his energy, too.  It was just this feeling you had when you looked at his sullen face.  And while Michael tried to hide his emotions, thinking of them as weaknesses, he always had a lot more drastic emotions than say, Max.  Max is always rational, and calm.  I'm not saying that he has less emotions, just that he's less emotional.  When Michael had some emotion, it was always strong, and passionate.  Michael was always the one to go with those passions—no matter how much he tried to suppress them, it was him who would break into the Sheriff's office without thinking his plan through, or kiss Maria because he couldn't help himself (or to "calm her down").  

So let's recap:  Michael, strong, passionate, tried to repress emotions.  Maria: strong in her own way, definitely passionate, and embraced her emotions.  Put the two together, and you got this explosive chemical reaction, which always ended up with the two elements doing what they wanted to do: make a compound.  On the practical side, Maria showed Michael how important his emotions and his human side were, and Michael supported Maria, even though sometimes he got scared and ran away, when Maria supported him.  Hell, they supported each other, complimented each other, and brought each other alive in this burst of passion that had each other one moment yelling and the next trying to eat each other's mouths.  

So what happened?

They tamed each other.  Maria said she lost a part of herself, being with Michael.  It wasn't really about her music, it was about her passion.  Yes, they were still passionately in love.  But weren't we all so happy how Michael finally settled down and admitted his love for her and supported her so much when she needed him most?  I mean, he brought her flowers because he thought she was going to yell at him.  The spikey-haired Michael would have stepped up to the challenge of a heated screaming match, not cringed at the thought.  And Maria: remember a few weeks ago when Michael took Maria to the bowling alley because he had to bowl with the guys at work, didn't tell Maria, and she found out…we all expected Maria to be angry.  Michael was _scared_.  I'm not saying that the old Michael was never scared, but not of being yelled at, of being confronted.  He could deal with that, with indignance.  But Maria wasn't angry.  She was happy for him.  The old Maria would have definitely been very angry.  After a while she would have calmed down, and realized she needed to be happy for Michael, but she'd initially be angry.  

So now you're probably thinking "ok, so the two of them learned from each other and matured."  Well, yes and no.  Yes, they learned, and they matured.  But somewhere along the way, they lost their passion.  Maria was the pixie, the hurricane.  Michael was the "soldier" who went off half-cocked.  Yes, we see some of that in his decisions v. Max's decisions, in the way that he wants to just jump into things when Max wants to think things through.  I am in no way saying that Maria and Michael lost all passion in their lives.  Just that they definitely tamed each other, and what made them so perfect for each other was that they sent sparks flying, that they reacted so vigorously.  

My final piece of evidence lies in the way they broke up.  There was no yelling, just a calm, collected "I want to break up" from Maria.  And Michael?  No, he can't yell at her for saying that, but he would normally have gone and blown something up, or done something drastic and stupid.  But he just lay there, hurt, and shocked, and broken.  

Maria and I talked about how much we were giving up by being with them, and I told her to think long and hard before giving up her dreams, because then all she'd be is me.  I know that sounds self-pitying, but I don't pity myself.  I love Max, and he loves me.  No, love does not conquer all.  Love doesn't conquer anything, actually.  _We_ conquer things, because of our love.  Dreams are important, which is why Maria needs some time to think things through.  Basically, she has to decide which is more important to her: her dreams, or being with Michael.  And the thing is, Maria wouldn't be _Maria_ without her dreams.  But would she be Maria without Michael?  Yes.  People can be apart and still love each other, you know.  Maria's love for Michael is part of who she is, and it will always be.  And one day, they'll be together again.  Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or even next year, but once they find themselves again, they'll be together: screaming one moment, kissing the next, and sparks flying everywhere.  


End file.
